Using Emphasis

Using emphasis in the Schematic view can help you visualize the flow of image data, or help you stay focused on several selected nodes.

Emphasis maintains the opacity of the selected nodes and de-emphasizes unselected nodes by lowering their opacity.

You can change the opacity percentage for de-emphasized nodes.

To change the de-emphasis opacity:

1. Choose File | Preferences, or press Ctrl+; (Windows) or Command+; (Macintosh).
2. In the Schematic group, click General.

The Schematic preferences appear.

3. Adjust the De-Emphasis Opacity field.
4. Click OK.

You can make emphasis follow your selection automatically or you can choose to manually emphasize only when necessary. These techniques are described in the next two sections.

Making Emphasis Follow the Selection

You can easily visualize the flow of image data by making emphasis follow the selection in the Schematic view. For example, you can easily see how a piece of footage goes through several operators to become an element in a composite.

To make emphasis follow the selection:

1. Choose File | Preferences, or press Ctrl+; (Windows) or Command+; (Macintosh).
2. In the Schematic group, click General.

The Schematic preferences appear.

3. Enable Emphasis Follows Selection.



4. From the Auto Emphasize list, select a direction:
• Downstream—towards the result (for example, the Composite operator)
• Upstream—back to the original Footage operator
• Both—upstream and downstream
5. Click OK.

As you select nodes in the Schematic view, the selection and the connected nodes in the chosen directions become emphasized.

Note: When Emphasis Follows Selection is enabled, the Schematic view context menu does not include Emphasize Selection and Emphasize All.

Emphasizing Nodes Manually

You may want to identify (or 'tag') specific nodes to help you focus on these nodes in the Schematic view.

For example, if you are trying to solve a problem with the color correction of several elements in a composite, you can emphasize all the Color Correction nodes (by Alt-clicking or Option-clicking one of them) so that you can easily find them as you fix the color of the various elements.

To manually emphasize nodes:

Select the nodes and emphasize them (press E).

Unlike automatic emphasis, this technique does not emphasize connected nodes in either direction.

Note: You can still double-click a de-emphasized node to show its controls and tools, or triple-click it to show the operator in the viewport.

If you add new operators while selected nodes are emphasized, the new nodes are added as emphasized.

When you emphasize nodes manually, there is an option for locking de-emphasized nodes. There are two restrictions when you lock de-emphasized nodes:

• You cannot move the de-emphasized nodes.
• You cannot manually emphasize any of the de-emphasized nodes.

Both restrictions are the result of not being able to select a de-emphasized node. You first need to clear the emphasis using Emphasize All.

To set up manual node emphasis:

1. Choose File | Preferences, or press Ctrl+; (Windows) or Command+; (Macintosh).
2. In the Schematic group, click General.

The Schematic preferences appear.

3. Disable Emphasis Follows Selection.



4. If you do not want the ability to move or emphasize any of the de-emphasized nodes, enable Lock De-Emphasized Nodes.
5. Click OK.

To emphasize selected nodes:

1. Select one or more nodes in the Schematic view.

To learn different ways to select nodes, see Selecting Nodes.

2. Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Macintosh) the Schematic view and choose Emphasize Selection, or press E.

Note: If Lock De-Emphasized Node is enabled in the preferences, you cannot select or move the de-emphasized nodes.

To clear the emphasis on selected nodes:

Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Macintosh) the Schematic view and choose Emphasize All, or press D.